Gold Rises on Softer Dollar and Cooling Oil
Gold prices climbed more than 1% to around $4,180 an ounce on Friday, reaching a one-week high as investors weighed a softer US dollar and retreating oil prices against the prospect of further Federal Reserve rate hikes. Oil prices pulled back following a recent rally after US President Donald Trump said Washington would not attack Iran before next month’s US midterm elections, as diplomatic efforts to end the war continued. The conflict has disrupted global energy markets, fueling concerns over inflation. Meanwhile, St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem said on Thursday that further monetary tightening may be needed to bring inflation back to the central bank’s 2% target, although he declined to signal how he would vote at the Fed’s policy meeting later this month. According to the CME FedWatch Tool, traders were pricing in less than a 20% chance of a rate hike in October, but more than an 80% probability of at least one 25-basis-point increase by December.
Gold prices climbed more than 1% to around $4,180 an ounce on Friday, reaching a one-week high as investors weighed a softer US dollar and retreating oil prices against the prospect of further Federal Reserve rate hikes. Oil prices pulled back following a recent rally after US President Donald Trump said Washington would not attack Iran before next month’s US midterm elections, as diplomatic efforts to end the war continued. The conflict has disrupted global energy markets, fueling concerns over inflation. Meanwhile, St.
Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem said on Thursday that further monetary tightening may be needed to bring inflation back to the central bank’s 2% target, although he declined to signal how he would vote at the Fed’s policy meeting later this month. According to the CME FedWatch Tool, traders were pricing in less than a 20% chance of a rate hike in October, but more than an 80% probability of at least one 25-basis-point increase by December.